Was Pixar hit inspired by the Beano? Fans say Inside Out bears a striking resemblance to comic strip The Numskulls
- Pixar's Inside Out has been compared to Beano cartoon The Numskulls
- Both centre around five fun-loving characters who live in child's head
- The Numskulls comic strip has been featured in the Beano for 53 years
- This week's edition saw Beano makers poke fun at the smash hit film
For loyal readers of the Beano, something might seem a little familiar about Pixar’s latest multi-million-pound animated film.
Fans claim that the blockbuster Inside Out bears a striking resemblance to the story of the Numskulls, a comic strip enjoyed by generations since 1962.
Both stories are based around five fun-loving characters who live inside a child’s head.
But while the film has broken US box office records in its opening weekend by taking a staggering $91.1m (£60m) in just three days, the Beano has had a more modest financial history.
The makers of the Beano have now hit back at Pixar’s film by making a Numskulls comic strip that pokes fun at the smash hit film.
One of the tiny creatures is drawn saying: ‘We’ve raked in tens of pounds doing this!’
The Beano’s editor in chief, Mike Stirling, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘We had people from all over the world pointing out the similarities, which is very flattering, but the Numskulls is a very British strip and we wanted to point out the differences.
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‘For one thing, the British bottle up our emotions.
‘Our Numskulls are like technicians so we have them wondering – how come those Inside Out characters are so much more famous than us?
‘Is it the emotions? So what would happen if they uncorked the emotions?’
Inside Out, which stars Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader, has become Hollywood’s biggest debut by an original non-sequel film in history.
It entered the top spot at the British box office over the weekend, earning more than £7m since opening last week.
The Numskulls - Blinky, Brainy, Radar, Cruncher and Snitch - live inside the head of a boy called Edd, controlling his body and mind.
Meanwhile in Inside Out the storyline is more philosophical, with the five characters representing Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger living inside the head of a troubled young girl.
Despite the similar plot, Inside Out’s co-director and writer Ronnie del Carmen said he ‘wasn’t familiar’ with the classic Beano strip.
But the comic’s editor said it may have ‘somehow subliminally influenced the idea’.
He added: ‘I’d like to think that there was a symbiotic synthesis – if that wasn’t an odd sentence coming from the editor of The Beano – as if we’d somehow subliminally influenced the idea in some way.
‘We have between eight and 12 frames to set up and deliver on a joke; I’d love the luxury of a two-hour movie to explore the Numskulls. So if Pixar is interested, the door is open.’
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